Earn Links: A New Way to Share Revenue with Contributors
Earn Links let companies share revenue with anyone through a simple link. No account required, no equity given up, no complex contracts. Here is how they work.
What Are Earn Links?
An Earn Link is a unique URL generated by a company on HYVV that represents a revenue sharing opportunity. When someone accepts an Earn Link, they become a revenue share recipient without needing to join the company, sign a traditional contract, or give up any information beyond their payment details.
Think of it as a shareable invitation to earn money from a company's revenue. The link encodes the terms: the percentage, any caps, the duration, and the source of revenue it applies to. Click, accept, start earning.
Why Earn Links Exist
Traditional revenue sharing requires a lot of friction:
- Negotiate terms back and forth over email.
- Draft a legal agreement (or pay a lawyer to do it).
- Both parties sign the agreement.
- Set up manual tracking in a spreadsheet.
- Calculate payouts each period.
- Send money via wire, ACH, or check.
- Issue receipts and tax forms.
This process works for major partnerships, but it falls apart for smaller collaborations. If you want to share 5% of revenue from a specific product with the designer who built the landing page, the legal and administrative overhead often exceeds the value of the arrangement.
Earn Links compress all of that friction into a single action: accept the link.
How Earn Links Work
For the Company
- Create the Earn Link from your HYVV dashboard. Specify the revenue share percentage, any cap or duration limits, and which revenue streams it applies to.
- Share the link via email, Slack, social media, or embed it on your website.
- Revenue flows automatically. Once the recipient accepts, every qualifying revenue event triggers a payout calculation and transfer through Stripe Connect.
For the Recipient
- Click the link. You see the terms: percentage, cap, duration, company name.
- Accept and connect. Provide your Stripe account (or set one up) to receive payouts.
- Earn. Payouts arrive on the schedule the company set, with full receipts and verification hashes.
No login to a new platform required. No negotiation. No invoicing.
Use Cases
Freelancers and Contractors
Instead of a flat project fee, a developer could accept an Earn Link for 3% of revenue from the feature they built. They share in the upside if the feature drives growth, and the company preserves cash during the early stages.
Affiliate and Referral Programs
Traditional affiliate programs require dedicated software, tracking pixels, and attribution logic. An Earn Link is simpler: generate it, share it, and the payout is tied to the revenue it produces.
Advisors and Mentors
Early-stage advisors often receive equity that may never be worth anything. An Earn Link offers immediate, tangible compensation tied to actual revenue, not speculative valuations.
Content Creators and Influencers
A creator promotes your product. Instead of a flat sponsorship fee, they receive an Earn Link for a percentage of revenue generated during the campaign period. Both sides benefit when the campaign performs well.
Open Source Contributors
Open source maintainers rarely get compensated for their work. Companies that rely on open source projects could generate Earn Links for key contributors, sharing a small percentage of the revenue their software enables.
What Makes Earn Links Different
Transparency
Every Earn Link payout generates a receipt with a cryptographic hash. Recipients can verify their payouts independently through HYVV's public receipt verification page. There is no trust gap.
No Equity Dilution
Earn Links are revenue shares, not equity grants. The company retains 100% of its ownership. This matters for companies that want to reward contributors without complicating their cap table.
Programmable Terms
Earn Links are not just URLs. They encode business logic: percentage splits, caps, floors, duration limits, and which revenue streams qualify. The terms execute automatically through HYVV's rules engine.
Self-Service
The recipient does not need to negotiate, request a contract, or wait for legal review. They see the terms, accept or decline, and start earning. This makes it practical to share revenue with dozens or hundreds of contributors.
The Bigger Picture
Earn Links represent a shift in how value flows through business relationships. Instead of one-time payments for services rendered, contributors can participate in the ongoing success of the businesses they help build.
For companies, this creates a powerful incentive mechanism. Contractors who earn revenue shares are motivated to deliver work that drives long-term growth, not just check boxes on a scope document.
For contributors, Earn Links provide a path to income diversification. A freelancer with Earn Links from five companies has five streams of passive income tied to real business performance.
Getting Started with Earn Links
Earn Links are available on all paid HYVV plans. To create your first Earn Link:
- Navigate to your company's Revenue page in the HYVV dashboard.
- Click Create Earn Link and define the terms.
- Copy the link and share it with your contributor.
That is it. HYVV handles the rest: tracking, calculation, payout, receipts, and tax documentation.
Ready to share revenue the modern way? Create your first Earn Link with HYVV and start rewarding the people who help your business grow.
Found this useful? Share it.